Impure Resurrection
by RadioactiveSpoon
Summary: Naruto's always wanted to meet his family. Unfortunately, they're dead. Fortunately, there's a way around that. A story of Naruto's desire for family - and the things he's willing to do the get it.
1. A Thief in the Night

The Third was dead.

Naruto hadn't been there to see, but everyone was saying he sacrificed himself to save the Leaf. Apparently, Orochimaru had used a forbidden jutsu to revive the First and Second Hokage. Naruto didn't know the details, but by the end of the encounter, Orochimaru had fled the village, the surviving Sound ninja had retreated, the Sand had surrendered – and the Third was dead.

That was what he kept coming back too.

Naruto had never really experienced this type of loss before. He'd lost his parents on the day he was born, after all; he'd been more or less alone for most of the time after that. It was only recently, with his graduation from the Academy and promotion to genin, that he'd had people working their way into his life on a more permanent basis. Iruka, Kakashi, Konohamaru, Sakura, even Sasuke - he finally felt like he was starting to really get his life together… which was why the Third's death hit him so hard. Having fought so hard and for so long to finally build these bonds with the people around him, suddenly, shockingly discovering exactly how fragile they were broke something, deep down. The Third was the closest thing to family Naruto had had for most of his life, and now he was gone.

Naruto wanted a family. He wanted _his_ family. Maybe it was childish, this longing he had. He didn't know. What he did know was that he wanted to meet his parents. He wanted to laugh and cry and _live _with his mother and father. But he couldn't. They were dead, long dead, and he'd never even been told their names. And while chakra could do a lot of things, he'd never heard of a jutsu that could bring back the dead.

.

.

.

Waaaaait a minute.

* * *

><p>Stealing the scroll was a lot easier than it should have been, really, but he supposed that the ANBU could be forgiven for having other matters on their mind. Most of the village forces were guarding the village borders. The recent attack had left the village vulnerable, and they were more concerned about any enemies who might decide this was a good opportunity than they were an unwatched genin making his way through the darkness.<p>

Besides, this was hardly the first time he'd stolen a scroll.

Getting out of the village might be a bit harder, though.

He crouched in the shadows near a hole in the wall that hadn't been their prior to the invasion. He couldn't see anyone, but he didn't doubt that there would be ANBU watching carefully. He couldn't risk getting caught. Shuffling back into the darkness a little more, he brought up his hands and silently made the signs to summon three shadow clones. The clones activated a basic transformation jutsu to disguise themselves as the three Sound ninja he remembered from the Chunin Exams. There were probably some details wrong, but it would suffice. He sent the three clones out through the hole in the wall, sprinting off into the darkness with more focus on speed than stealth. Sure enough, he just caught a flicker of shadow moving after them – ANBU, he was certain. The clones wouldn't last long before being caught. He'd told them to split up, in order to buy as much time as possible, so he gave them a couple of seconds, and he made his own move. This was largely going to be based on luck, now. Desperately hoping that there weren't any more ANBU watching, Naruto sprinted off into the darkness of the forest. He didn't really have an exact idea of where he was going. He just knew he never wanted to lose anybody again – and that with the edo tensei, he'd never have to.

* * *

><p>It took two days for anyone to realise Naruto had disappeared. With the report of three Sound ninja attempting to escape, and revealing themselves to be clones when confronted, it was assumed that Orochimaru had taken the container of the Kyuubi as a consolation prize. It was a further four days before anybody noticed the missing scroll. The thought that Naruto may have been involved never even crossed anyone's mind.<p>

* * *

><p>Crouched down in an abandoned farmhouse, several days journey from Konoha, Naruto was scowling down at the scroll.<p>

"_Kill _someone? I need to kill someone for every person I try to revive? Hrrrr…"

He grimaced. He wasn't sure he was up to that. He was all for sorting out this jutsu – saving his family, bringing back the Third, never needing to worry about losing anyone he cared about again – but this seemed like a high cost. Perhaps he hadn't thought this through. He set the scroll down and thought.

"Well, I guess it makes sense… I mean, it's like an exchange… take a life to get a life. But I can't just go around killing random people…" Suddenly, he brightened. "Ah! Bandits, and Missing-nin, and stuff! They only hurt people anyway. My family deserves to live more than they do. That'd be okay". He nodded to himself, pleased. He was excited for this to work. He couldn't stop thinking about his family! Of course, he'd need to find out who they were, first… and even if he did, he didn't want his first test of the jutsu to be on someone he really cared about. This was important. He needed to perfect the jutsu before he used it like that. Of course, that brought up a whole new issue. Who was he going to bring back first?

He thought about it. Whoever it was, it should be someone he knew, at least partially – he needed to know that their personality remained intact. Did he know of anyone who'd died recently? Other than the Third? He frowned.

Then he smiled.

That'll work, he thought, face splitting into a grin. That'll work very well.


	2. The Sombre Swordsman

Not for the first time, Naruto praised the usefulness of the shadow clone jutsu. Having set himself up in the farmhouse, he could send the clones out to handle the manual labor – finding food, keeping watch, and so on; leaving him with plenty of time to plot out his next move. He'd journeyed back to the Leaf in order to raid his targets' grave, a task that he'd found less than pleasant. He didn't let it put him off, though. He'd known this was going to be unpleasant when he started, and he wasn't going to let it hold him back from achieving his dream. He'd had a stroke of luck in regards to the tributes for the jutsu, though. He'd been on his way back to the farmhouse, with a small glass bottle containing one partially decayed finger stashed safely away in his pack, when he'd been set upon by bandits, who'd apparently thought him a civilian. Once he'd realized exactly what was happening, he fairly quickly (and with no small amount of amusement) managed to subdue the small group of bandits, and had a group of shadow clones set about restraining them and lugging them back to his makeshift base, where they were promptly dumped into a pit and left to be watched by a shadow clone, bar their leader, who found himself tied up and gagged in the barn, watching Naruto rub his hands together in poorly contained glee.

"Well, I suppose this is as good of a time as any to try it, right?" he asked the bandit, who was, of course, completely unable to respond. Naruto shrugged.  
>"Bah, whatever. Not really important what you think anyway. That's not why you're here". He took a step back and consulted the scroll, before nodding to himself.<br>"Well, it seems to be prepared. Let's give it a shot". He stood back and cracked his knuckles. Then he slammed his hands, palm down, to the ground.

"Summoning – Impure World Reincarnation!" he shouted, and the terrified bandit noticed a sizeable series of markings – a seal – flash into existence around him. Then he started writhing around in agony. Naruto watched as the bandit shook around, trying to scream past his gag, as he was enveloped in a flaking material that climbed and coated his body from the floor. Soon enough his head was covered and the reactions stopped. Much to Naruto's pleasure, a new body was being formed around the old. Features were becoming visible, and the man's body was now covered in what Naruto recognized to be a Konoha Chunin vest. He reached forwards and placed a kunai into the mans head, while it was still being generated by the jutsu; inserting the seal that he had painstakingly copied out from the scroll until he was certain there were no errors. Then he stood back to admire his handiwork.

"Not bad, huh?" he asked, hand on his chin, nodding. "What do you think… Hayate Gekko?"

* * *

><p>Naruto had never known Hayate particularly well, but he'd seen him at the Chunin Exams, refereeing the first round before he'd been killed. He remembered the man as being a fairly subdued individual. He'd been fairly sure he could talk, though. This Hayate simply stood around. He'd follow any orders Naruto gave him, either verbally or through the jutsu's connection, but he never responded to any of Naruto's questions, and he never did anything on his own. Naruto could only conclude that he'd gotten the jutsu wrong somehow. He frowned, looking straight into Hayate's darkened eyes, and wondered where he'd gone wrong. It was either the jutsu itself or the control seal. Perhaps it subdued their personalities? Well, that wouldn't do. The whole point of this was to bring his family back. He wanted them as people, not puppets. Well, there was an easy way to check, he thought, reaching into the man's head and retrieving the control seal. He took a step back and watched as Hayate shuddered a little, before blinking and looking around wearily.<p>

"…Uzumaki?" he queried, eyes resting upon the boy. "…What is this? I thought… I died, right?" Naruto grinned.

"Yep! But then I brought you back! Pretty awesome, right? Oh, hey, can I ask you some questions? I want to know if the technique worked properly…" Naruto trailed off into a series of questions that Hayate wasn't really listening to. He stared at his hands. _What have you done, Uzumaki… this jutsu is forbidden for a reason. It's wrong… foul. _It was about now that Naruto noticed he was being ignored.

"Hey! Hey, Hey, Hayate! You in there?" He waved his hand in front of Hayate's face, trying to get his attention. Hayate looked up.

"Uzumaki", he murmured, quietly. "This is wrong. This jutsu… it should not exist. You should never have used it. Release it". Naruto stopped sharp. Then he scowled.

"Hayate Gekko. Don't you want to live? I brought you back. I gave you life! Don't you want that?" To his surprise, however, Hayate Gekko shook his head.

"Not like this, Uzumaki. This is not living. I'm afraid I have to insist. Release the jutsu, or I'm going to have to make you". Naruto actually growled at him then.

"You ungrateful… fine, then. Stay dead. I've got others I can bring back. I don't need you, Hayate Gekko". But Hayate shook his head.

"You will not use this jutsu again, Naruto Uzumaki. I will make sure of it". Suddenly, he dashed forwards, pulling the blade from his back. Panicking, Naruto leapt sideways and frantically performed the handseals to release the jutsu. "Rat... Ox... Monkey... Tiger... Dragon... Boar - RELEASE!" he shouted, Hayate's blade an inch from his face. Panting heavily, he watched as Hayate collapsed into ash, the remains of the bandit leader becoming visible inside. Cautiously, Naruto stood up and observed the pile.

"Control seals need work", he muttered, before turning away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Yeah, if you're going to summon in immortal ninja, maybe don't take out the control seal. Naruto's not got the technique down pat yet, obviously, which is why it didn't play out exactly as it does when someone who knows what they're doing uses it.  
>Yay, reviews! 10 points to Elder Sibling for being my first reviewer ever. Huzzah.<br>Also, I'm looking for a new title for this. Impure Resurrection is really just a placeholder, but I can't for the life of me (or unlife, HA) think of a better one. Anyone comes up with one, shoot it through to me in a review, and if I decide to use it, there'll be credit where it's due.  
>Also, next chapter may be delayed slightly, need to refresh on the source material for that point.<p> 


	3. The Sound Five

Naruto left the control seal firmly in place next time he summoned Hayate. He wasn't sure whether it had been a poorly performed jutsu that had messed with Hayate's mind, or if he'd just always been like that. Either way, he was going to need more samples.

* * *

><p>Kidomaru frowned. "I don't think he's interested", he noted, rubbing his chin with one hand, four more crossed in front of his chest, and the last one dangling a beaten and bruised Sasuke Uchiha by the ankle. He shook him slightly and leaned down to look in the Uchiha's face. "You sure kid? You're not gonna get that strong here. Our Master will give you real power".<br>Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Go to hell", he grunted, and spat at Kidomaru's face. Tayuya snorted.

"Fuck this. Just bash him over the head and then drug the little bastard. We'll just drag the fucker back to Lord Orochimaru".

"The master did request that we had the boy follow of his own volition…" rumbled Jirobo. "I do not think that this was what he intended".

Sakon shook his head. "That is what was ordered, yes. But it seems pretty clear that the brat has no intention of playing to our little tune… we'll have to make do. Better this than returning empty-handed, anyway". The rest of them nodded, and Kidomaru emptied a small syringe of sedative into Sasuke's arm. Then he slung him over his shoulder, and the four bolted. Unseen to all, a shaking Sakura looked out from behind a nearby tree. She stood rooted to the spot in terror for a few minutes, before finally getting a hold of herself and shooting off towards the Hokage's tower as fast as her legs would carry her.

* * *

><p><em>THE NEXT MORNING<em>

_A figure darted through the forest until he came upon the first battleground. The bloodied corpse of a large man lay crushed in the dirt near an unconscious boy. Once confirming the boy was alive, the figure turned and moved towards the corpse. He reached down and severed a single finger, and proceeded to store it away in a small pouch. Then he moved on._

_The figure soon came across the second battlefield. A six-armed corpse lay on the ground across from a second heavily wounded boy. The figure once again confirmed that the wounded boy was alive, before turning back and taking a single finger from the corpse. He moved on._

_The third battlefield was at the bottom of a canyon, and there were survivors, this time. The figure watched, unseen, as the puppeteer from the sand helped the dog boy to limp slowly away from the battlefield. Once they were safely out of sight, the figure moved down to the river, besides which a mangled corpse had been unceremoniously dumped. The figure seemed briefly taken aback by the corpses' duplicate heads, but he swiftly reached down and took a chunk of hair from each one, storing it away in his pouch. Then he moved on._

_The fourth battlefield was a mess. Trees had been uprooted, and what was once a piece of forest just like any other was now little more than a tangled heap of debris. Crushed beneath the remains of the forest was the bloodied corpse of a kunoichi. Unperturbed, the figure took a finger, and moved on._

* * *

><p>Gaara attempted to contain &amp; crush Kimimaro while Lee retrieved the unconscious Sasuke that the Sound nin had been transporting. It had not been going well. The bone user had proved to be incredibly resistant, and Gaara wasn't sure if he would be able to crush him. He was confident that he would be able to at least bury him, however – the boy looked to be on his deathbed, and if they could contain him for even a short while, the battle would be over. Lee landed next to him, carrying a limp Sasuke, just as Gaara finally managed to catch Kimimaro in his Desert Funeral. He exhaled slowly.<p>

"It's over", he murmured to Lee. "He won't escape that". Then the bone spires started spearing up from beneath the ground, threatening to impale them. Gaara quickly gathered a cloud of sand beneath the three genin and carried them up into the sky. Gaara and Lee watched, tense, for a minute – then two – then five, before they finally relaxed. Gaara set them down on the ground just outside the bone forest.

"_You let your guard down", _whispered a soft voice in his ear. He turned, startled, to see the bone user launching himself out of a spire, bony spear thrusting towards him – when someone tackled him from the side, knocking him, Lee and the barely conscious Sasuke to the ground. Gaara looked up to see a Leaf nin wearing a bandanna hanging over them, with the huge bone spike firmly through his chest. Behind him, Kimimaro coughed up blood, shuddered, and finally grew still, dead. Lee stood up and regarded the man, shocked.

"This is… Gekkó Hayate…? But-" He was cut off when the man suddenly tore himself off of the spike. Gaara noted the complete lack of blood in the jagged hole in the man's torso. He didn't seem to be harmed in the slightest by the enormous wound – in fact, even as Gaara watched, it was starting to heal. The man turned and grasped a handful of Kimimaro's hair, tearing it loose from his head and storing it away in a pouch on his waist. Then he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Lee called out, one hand reached towards the man. He turned back, and whatever Lee had been about to say was caught in his throat as his face became visible. The man was covered in cracked, flakey skin, and his eyes were pitch black. Gaara stared. He'd never seen anything like it. The man regarded the three of them for a moment more before turning and sprinting away. In no time at all he had disappeared into the forest once more.

Gaara turned to Lee. "Who was that man? You reacted as if you knew of him".

Lee hesitated. "That was Hayate Gekkó. He's a Jounin ranked ninja from the Leaf. He was the proctor during our fight in the Chunin exams" – he swallowed – "and he was murdered, a short time before the invasion".

* * *

><p>Back in his hideout, Naruto sighed. Of course he'd had Hayate protect his friends – he didn't regret that – but he hadn't wanted to be found out so quickly. Lee, Gaara &amp; Sasuke would undoubtedly report the encounter, and it wouldn't take long for someone in the know to identify edo tensei and connect it with the missing scroll. Naruto was under no illusions as to his ability to survive an attack by a squad of ANBU, and he couldn't chance them finding him. He was going to have to move on. He shrugged and got back to packing up his small pile of belongings. It wasn't such a big deal. The barn was only ever meant to be a temporary base of operations, anyway; and besides, he was far more likely to encounter interesting samples this way. He grinned. First stop, Wave country – he already had a couple in mind…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** You've probably started to notice some differences from canon sneaking in - Sasuke not wanting to go to the Sound, for example. To summarize - Naruto wasn't around, so Itachi & Kisame weren't looking for him, so they didn't encounter Sasuke - so Sasuke didn't get the shit kicked out of him and start feeling like he needed more power. The Sound 5 encounters played out pretty much the same as they did in canon, so I didn't bother just rewriting that. Finally, since Lee and Gaara were focused on retrieving Sasuke, they weren't really taunting Kimimaro, so he didn't flip out and get all ragey at the end of the fight like he did in canon.

Also, I'm hoping this chapter is better quality than chapter 2 was. I got a little over excited and just pumped out a chapter as fast as I could, leading to an upload I'm not really happy with. Lesson learned, and I took a lot more care with this one. At some point I will go back and rewrite chapter 2, but for now it serves - everything that needs to happen still happened, just... not as well.

Finally, would Kimimaro have actually managed to kill Gaara & co if nobody had interfered, or would he have promptly died, like in canon? Well, it doesn't make much difference, does it?


End file.
